Make Some Noise with Andrea Owen

This week we are talking about shifting perspective, embracing change, and midlife reinvention. Wendy Valentine, writer, motivational speaker, master coach, and host of The Midlife Makeover Show, is a champion for midlifers. She’s my guest this week! Since Wendy’s own midlife revolution, she’s been helping people all over the world navigate challenges to create their best second half of life. In this episode, Wendy and I talk about the idea that there is more than one purpose to find or fulfill, amplifying the voice of your inner cheerleader (and quieting your inner critic), why midlife awakening is about perspective not a crisis, and Wendy’s seven steps to finding F.R.E.E.D.O.M.  Featured topics: How Wendy turned a midlife crisis into a midlife awakening (5:49) Amplifying your inner cheerleader and quieting down your inner critic (17:00) Why Wendy leaves her completed journals in airports (20:05) Getting unstuck from a mundane or manic midlife and discovering your next courageous step towards a better future (26:07) The seven steps to finding F.R.E.E.D.O.M. and reinventing your life (36:24) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I got a lot of messages after I released episode 540, all kinds– either sending me love and support, saying you relate and have been through what I’m going through, and some of you in a spot where you’re not sure if you should stay or go. And of course we all know how the social media algorithms work, and there’s some videos that have come across my feed in the last month or so that spoke to me and that topic and I wanted to share them with you. For legal reasons, these are hypothetical, and I may or may not be able to relate to these in my own life. I’ve included the links to each video and transcribed below. Listen in to the episode for my commentary on each one. 👀  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re shifting gears a little bit on the podcast this week! Tara McMullin joins me for a conversation about goal setting, money and finances, and the economy (because, let’s face it, sometimes it’s confusing). I’ve known Tara for over a decade, she is so incredibly smart, and I am excited to introduce her to you finally!For those new to Tara, here is a little more about her. Tara is a writer, podcaster, and producer. For over 13 years, she’s studied small business owners—how they live, how they work, what influences them, and what they hope for the future. She's the author of What Works: A Comprehensive Framework To Change The Way We Approach Goal Setting. Featured topics: The different types of goal setting and the overlap between goals and finances (5:31) The expectation of unrelenting growth is unrealistic and at the root of many things wrong in our financial system (13:05) How culture impacts the way we view money and growth (14:07) Our economy: breaking down business and economic understanding. (19:15) The passion paradigm and why is it important to understand it (23:26) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode is about changing definitions, taking up space, and prioritizing women's health. We can't make social and cultural changes until we can talk about the thing that we're trying to change - and in this case, it’s the way our culture currently perceives and uses the word pussy. My guest is Jacqueline Buckingham, an actress, activist, and advocate for women's health.   She says, “I believe that embracing the word pussy, not just as women, as a culture, is the start of shifting the huge imbalance we have in our world.” Jacqueline is an impassioned voice for body positivity and mental health. We are so in alignment with the work that we both do in the world. I knew I had to have her on when the time was right. It is time for you to be introduced to this woman and her amazing work.Featured Topics:  Huge pussy is a movement to redefine the word pussy - an otherworldly, orgasmic, resilient, flexible, life-giving humanity vessel (4:26) What sparked Jacqueline to create a movement to change the association of the female body from shame to celebration and prioritize women's physical, mental, and sexual health (12:52) Jacqueline’s film The Pussy Papers (13:06) Jacqueline explains what she means when she says, “I want women to live huge pussy lives and have huge pussy energy.” (39:45) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scrolling through Instagram the other day, I came across a reel from my friend and colleague, Christine Gutierrez. The message she gave in this short video (you'll hear the clip in the episode) gave me pause, and I watched it several times. I loved it so much I wanted to not only share it with you, as well as record my own thoughts as it pertains to my life and expand on how this could apply to you as well. I muse on… what might need to die, what needs to rest, what needs to be in stillness so that you can move to the next season that your life is calling you to be in. Perhaps it’s old identities, relationships, or how we look at certain relationships. Listen in as I expand on this amazing bit of wisdom and break it down around how it might apply to YOUR life.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

KC Baker is someone I have known for over a decade in the online spaces, and I have always admired her work. So I am thrilled to introduce you to her and her wisdom in this week’s episode! Together we discuss how to cultivate the internal safety and freedom to speak up authentically in your personal and professional lives. KC also shares several spiritual practices to help get connected (or re-connected) with oneself and the world in which we live. KC Baker is the founder of WomenSpeak and has been a pioneer for the last 14 years in bringing a feminine approach to public speaking and leadership training with her unique embodiment and nervous system rewiring practices. Featured Topics:  KC’s TED Talk Voice: A Love Story and how she came to do the work she does today (4:30) Tantra practices: what they are and how KC uses them in her work with women speakers. “Tantra it really is about exploring through living fully and fully being alive in the body.”  (11:24) What it means for women to connect with their Divine Love (14:47) Ecstatic dance and sensual movement for healing (17:19) The feminine Qi Gong practice (28:29)   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“We are wired for connection, but kindness, empathy, and connection is a skill we must learn,” says guest Dr. Jody Carrington. Dr. Jody is a renowned psychologist sought after for her expertise, energy, and approach to helping people solve their most complex human-centered challenges.  Dr. Jody joins me for a conversation about connection, understanding the purpose and power in acknowledgment and feeling seen, and how to find our way back to self and each other. I believe in Dr. Jody’s work and hope you enjoy our conversation! In fact, I will leave you with another powerful statement from Dr. Jody, “We are wired to do the hard things, but we were never meant to do any of this alone.”Featured Topics:  Why connection and reconnection are so important in the world right now (5:16) Acknowledgment and feeling seen is the answer to everything (16:37) Emotions will not kill you, but not talking about them might (24:44) How to reconnect and find our way back to each other (33:32) Creating an emotional language with the people (38:36) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This was a hard episode to record. As you probably know, I’ve been married to my second husband, Jason, for a long time, since 2008. And after ten months of committed therapy, in January of this year, we decided to end our nearly fifteen-year marriage. Out of respect to him and our children, I won’t disclose the details of the reasons we split, but will speak in vague ways and talk about my part… the things I acknowledge that contributed to the end. Listen in to this minisode as I share what I can, and share a message I have for any of you who are in a place where you’re wondering if you should stay or go in your own relationship. I share as much as I can, and I wish I could share more details with you. North Carolina divorce laws are weird, and at least for now I need to keep some things private. But, soon I’ll be able to tell you what the last seven or so months have brought me. There are already enormous learning lessons that I hope will be helpful for many of you.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I am bringing you a guest whose work I find to be simply fascinating. Lena Morgan’s passion is to reunite people with their most powerful selves while healing old stories along the way. A midwife for over a decade, Lena shares insights on healing our life’s stories, unpacks six fight languages that keep us in conflict, and explains the importance of sacred partnerships. We also talk about intuition, including the difference between your intuitive voice and inherited voice (aka inner critic), and how to learn to trust your intuition.This episode is packed with new and interesting ways to understand yourself, make meaningful decisions, and, most importantly, heal. Lena has created a new path to better understanding ourselves and our partners. Her goal, as always, is to help you heal the stories and change your world.Feature topics:  Lena shares how her experiences as a midwife led her to create The Storyteller Collection and help others heal the stories that kept them in a specific version of themselves (3:37) The six different Fight Languages, how they keep you in conflict, and why depending on your wounds, they all have the potential to create incredible damage (6:24) Sacred Partnerships give you an opportunity to stretch and grow. An ideal sacred partnership is one where the other person is a safe space to have vulnerability with and try to show up in new ways and bring healing to old parts of you (28:21) Discerning between your intuitive voice versus your inherited voice (36:12) Lena shares the most common thing women struggle with, doubting themselves and trusting their intuition, and offers one way to help overcome this struggle (40:11) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s episode is for anyone who struggles with anxiety, fear, and self-limiting beliefs (like, all of us?).  If you're like me, you like to live in your head a lot and have a little bit of an anxious brain. If so, you're in good company with me! You’re also going to love today's guest, Chris Cirak.   Chris Cirak is an author, speaker, and mediator passionate about making sophisticated topics accessible, meaningful, and inspiring experiences. With an extensive background and design, psychology, and tech, he breaks down traditional teachings to make ancient wisdom accessible and discoverable by modern audiences.Featured topics: Techniques to help quiet an overactive mind and reduce the exhaustion caused by it (3:29) How to overcome living in a place of anxiety and fear  (15:55) Ever wanted to try yoga or meditation but struggled with starting? Chris offers some thoughts and advice for those who find either practice too hard or boring (26:28) Strategies to connect with your authentic self and step into your power to live a life of love, peace, and abundance (30:33) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices